Do you ever replace your aio?

Akagi · 3 Jul 2020 at 19:53

My system was sitting at 37 degrees, fired up Borderlands 3 in 4K Ultra and played it for half an hour or so, peaked at 71 degrees on the hottest core. 5 minutes since I closed the game, sitting at 40 degrees.

With my £60 Rajintek 240MM AIO, i7 2700K at 4.8GHz, system uptime 27:14:02:44.

I'm sorry, but no "£25 air cooler" is going to do that.

I've had a £25 air cooler in this machine before, while I was waiting for my new AIO to arrive, a Xigmatec CNPS something something, I had to remove the overclock because it was hitting TJMax and BSOD'ing in games.

I am by no means an AIO fanatic, but some of the claims above are just farcical.

Maybe a big £60 dual radiator air cooler can perform similarly to a £100 240MM AIO after the initial warm-up period, but not a £25 one.

Drollic · 3 Jul 2020 at 19:58

+1 No £25 cooler will match a decent 240mm aio. The latest 280mm will outperform even the best air. You really need to up the volts and clocks on the cpus to see the differences as the gaps in performance often widen.

Some of the reviews are also completely pointless - benching in open air, benching with 1 using pre-applied vs their own application of a better TIM etc. Also, if the aio is mounted up top, even the case chosen for testing can show bias as the aio relies on this far more than air.

Cyber-Mav · 3 Jul 2020 at 21:05

Acme said:
About half the fluid in my H100 was missing after 8 years continuous usage, which meant it no longer performed adequately.

No idea if water permeated the rubber, it evaporated, or if magical pixies drank it, but it definitely wasn't inside it anymore.

Whats to say that it didnt leave the factory half full? Corsair quality n all.

Cyber-Mav · 3 Jul 2020 at 21:10

Drollic said:
+1 No £25 cooler will match a decent 240mm aio. The latest 280mm will outperform even the best air.

Really? Run cheapest heatsink air cooler for 10 years vs cheapest aio for 10 years then assess performance after. Bet you the air cooler performs better than the aio thats now got a nackered pump unless the mobo died of coolant leakage damage

Akagi · 3 Jul 2020 at 21:49

Cyber-Mav said:
Really? Run cheapest heatsink air cooler for 10 years vs cheapest aio for 10 years then assess performance after. Bet you the air cooler performs better than the aio thats now got a nackered pump unless the mobo died of coolant leakage damage

Wow, what a great straw man.

Shock as lump of metal lasts longer than electromechanical device.

That being said, I've had fans fail on air coolers, and my H100 was still functional aside from low fluid after getting on for 10 years. My new one has a fluid fill port.

muon · 3 Jul 2020 at 22:25

jigger said:
Two simple fixes for all the crappy AIO problems.

1, The Fractal Kelvin
2, The Swiftech Drive X

Except the pump dies eventually. The bearing is a wearing part.

If you run your system long/continuously enough that fluid loss is a problem, then the bearing also becomes a liability.

I have an Alphacool AIO, refillable, but the bearing is on it's way out. Oh well, at least it has given me silence for a good while.

CaptainRAVE · 3 Jul 2020 at 22:26

Nope, my H100 is years old. Used it on my 4770k and now my 9700k.

muon · 3 Jul 2020 at 22:37

CaptainRAVE said:
Nope, my H100 is years old. Used it on my 4770k and now my 9700k.

The bearing will fail. It's a matter of time. Also depends on how you run your system. Mine for example runs 24/7.

Your H100 also hasn't had fluid loss presumably. So you probably haven't had the total number of hours people are talking about in this thread.

Drollic · 3 Jul 2020 at 22:50

Cyber-Mav said:
Really? Run cheapest heatsink air cooler for 10 years vs cheapest aio for 10 years then assess performance after. Bet you the air cooler performs better than the aio thats now got a nackered pump unless the mobo died of coolant leakage damage

I don't bet and you've missed the word decent. Cheapest vs cheapest wasn't what I was responding to. I would choose air over a cheap aio if it's of any importance.

muon · 3 Jul 2020 at 22:55

I don't think I've seen anyone complain about coolant leakage.

Quick search on these forums shows nothing (other than cars).

NightSt@lk3r · 4 Jul 2020 at 00:25

muon said:
The bearing will fail. It's a matter of time. Also depends on how you run your system. Mine for example runs 24/7.

Your H100 also hasn't had fluid loss presumably. So you probably haven't had the total number of hours people are talking about in this thread.

I run mine at least 12 hours per day, quite often left on 24 hours a day, 7 years on and my first gen H100i is still running perfectly, well worth the investment over an air cooler.

V F · 4 Jul 2020 at 00:49

Psycho Sonny said:
AIO are a waste of money.

I buy the best value for money air cooler for £25-£35 and it will last several pcs you can always change the fan with each pc if you want.

Cooler master Hyper 212
Cryorig H5/H7
ALPENFOHN BROCKEN 2

I've used them in my last few builds and they were all very good and very quiet too. It's amazing the cooling offered by a £25 air cooler.

How? I got my monies worth out of the Corsair H70 from 2010 that I must have gotten from OcUK for £80. It's not loud. I used a 3rd party fan and using it with one fan.

CK61938 · 4 Jul 2020 at 00:54

I'm planning on replacing my AIO. It's the Corsair H100i GTX and it's 5 years old. It's cooling an Intel Core i7 5820K, or trying to. I have changed the thermal paste on it a couple of months ago and the idle temps on this thing are still around the high 40s to mid 50s mark. Whilst gaming it can reach just over 84C. So I'll be buying a new AIO to see if it helps reduce the temps. If not, it could be down to the CPU itself. It's not a machine that stays on constantly. It's lucky if it stays on for more than 6hrs. But I still worry about the idle temps. I've had the CPU for 5 years too but never really paid much attention to the temps until very recently.

Psycho Sonny · 4 Jul 2020 at 02:19

CK61938 said:
I'm planning on replacing my AIO. It's the Corsair H100i GTX and it's 5 years old. It's cooling an Intel Core i7 5820K, or trying to. I have changed the thermal paste on it a couple of months ago and the idle temps on this thing are still around the high 40s to mid 50s mark. Whilst gaming it can reach just over 84C. So I'll be buying a new AIO to see if it helps reduce the temps. If not, it could be down to the CPU itself. It's not a machine that stays on constantly. It's lucky if it stays on for more than 6hrs. But I still worry about the idle temps. I've had the CPU for 5 years too but never really paid much attention to the temps until very recently.

idle temps don't really matter as much.

i was playing cs for 3 hours and my cpu was hitting 49C-63C with an average around 54C. GPU was the same.

that is all on a £25 cooler.

i also just did a CPU stress test for 5 minutes and it hit 75C it idles at 36C it will never be tested as much whilst gaming as a stress test will so i think i'm all good in terms of cooling

Akagi · 4 Jul 2020 at 02:35

So many people stating opinions as facts and drawing straw men in here. I thought that was for GD/speakers corner only?

MG42Maniac · 4 Jul 2020 at 09:14

I recently replaced my EVGA CLC240 that was about 18 months old with an NXZT Z73 360mm. I did it as I thought the little display looked awesome, I also wanted better cooling as went from a 2700X to a 3900X. I've been very happy with my purchase but I'll be keeping this one for a long time.

Cyber-Mav · 4 Jul 2020 at 16:51

Acme said:
Shock as lump of metal lasts longer than electromechanical device.

Unless its a car and rust.....

Dave2150 · 5 Jul 2020 at 22:17

Drollic said:
+1 No £25 cooler will match a decent 240mm aio. The latest 280mm will outperform even the best air. You really need to up the volts and clocks on the cpus to see the differences as the gaps in performance often widen.

Some of the reviews are also completely pointless - benching in open air, benching with 1 using pre-applied vs their own application of a better TIM etc. Also, if the aio is mounted up top, even the case chosen for testing can show bias as the aio relies on this far more than air.

Don't agree with this one bit. It's been proven countless times that the best air, with the best fans, beats the best 280 AIO (not custom loop, AIO) while being quieter, cheaper and having much better longevity.

The main thing AIO's have going for them is their appearance, nothing wrong with them, just misleading to say they outperform the best air.

Ross Thomson · 5 Jul 2020 at 22:31

Dave2150 said:
Don't agree with this one bit. It's been proven countless times that the best air, with the best fans, beats the best 280 AIO (not custom loop, AIO) while being quieter, cheaper and having much better longevity.

The main thing AIO's have going for them is their appearance, nothing wrong with them, just misleading to say they outperform the best air.

lol no it hasn't. https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3571-arctic-liquid-freezer-ii-cooler-review-benchmark both max speed and noise normalied the arctic freezer II 280mm is cooler and quieter than air coolers with the best fans (what ever they are). On release the arctic 280 was cheaper than the NH-D15

Drollic · 6 Jul 2020 at 11:54

Dave2150 said:
Don't agree with this one bit. It's been proven countless times that the best air, with the best fans, beats the best 280 AIO (not custom loop, AIO) while being quieter, cheaper and having much better longevity.

The main thing AIO's have going for them is their appearance, nothing wrong with them, just misleading to say they outperform the best air.

You'll be looking at combinations of old reviews, open bench, pre applied TIM on aio, no cut out on top or at front of case for rad, aio running in balanced not custom, cpu not pushing the cooler, GPU not running at the same time, fans upgraded on air and not rad like you say and so on. Air is cheaper and easier to live with. It won't perform as well as the latest 280 like the XT from corsair if it's well setup. Ram clearance is also an issue on air and if it's avoidable, case clearance can then become an issue from the fan height.

Fitting an aio to the front of the case with a solid panel in front of it in silent mode with it's pre applied TIM is completely different to fitting one in the top of the case or front of the case with a fully meshed panel with custom fan speed and your own TIM. You may as well be using a different cooler. These variations don't exist with air. Lots of cases don't have large meshed panels for rads. In turn, these aios can't push/pull the air properly.